April 07, 2009

FSC Certification Made Easy? It Could be Worth the Trip

Recently we facilitated a marketing workshop and the question came up, "What is FSC Certification?" Below you'll find the basics and links to some good additional resources.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the
international body responsible for standardizing practices to maintain and
ensure responsible forestry. Being FSC certified means a business or
organization adheres to the practices and principles put forth by the council.
There are three forms of certification two of which are related directly to
forestation; planting, growing, harvesting and selling and one for companies
and organizations involved in using or selling paper products but do not grow
or harvest trees. This last certification, the Chain-of-Custody (CoC)
certification, is the one most relevant to the print industry and focus of this
article.

What: A standards and management program for companies
and organizations that purchase and sell forest products to track that the
materials handled are from responsible sources. Once certification is attained
it lasts for five years and allows the company to promote their goods as FSC
certified.

Where: The FSC itself does not distribute the
certificates. Instead they have authorized third party organizations to manage
the assessments and enforcement of the CoC certificates. Organizations with
offices in the US currently are: